'Lancashire is performing incredibly' Preston rugby club among Lancashire sites offering Covid jab

The sports club, on Lightfoot Green Ln, is one of the many pharmacy sites being used to administer the Covid-19 vaccine to residents of Lancashire and Preston.

Managed and staffed by Broadway Pharmacy, the site has been developed to offer seven individual vaccination pods, each manned by a trained pharmacist issuing the jab.

And the pharmacy-run site joined the other five large-scale vaccination centres in Blackburn, Blackpool, Kendal, Lancaster and Ulverston, along with the 11 hospital hubs and 36 GP-led sites as part of the Lancashire and South Cumbria Covid-19 vaccination programme.

Patients are greeted by Lisa Chapman and Anne Clark at the reception desk, before being directed to a regularly sanitised waiting area.

Individuals are then called up to their vaccine pod where they are issued the jab and then guided out of the building following their one-way system.

Michael Ball, Broadway pharmacist and service lead said: "As a team, we are all delighted with how well the process is going so far. All the patients have received it as well as they have and it is fantastic to see.

"We have created a Covid-safe environment for the patients to attend, with a U-directional flow throughout the facility which gives people reassurance about social distancing.

"It is going incredibly well and all the team at Broadway have enjoyed being a part of it. Lancashire and Preston are performing very well in the vaccination rollout and we can't wait to carry on getting everybody vaccinated.

"It is vital that as many people from the eligible groups as possible receive a Covid-19 vaccination. When you get a vaccination, you are protecting yourself and others.

"Wait to receive your invitation for a vaccination from the NHS at which point you can select where you would like to have it administered.

"We have set up this centre to provide a facility that can help to protect the population of Preston and the surrounding area at this critical time."

The news comes as official NHS figures revealed last week that just over 90 per cent of over 70s living in the county had been given their first jab as of February 7.

And Lancashire and South Cumbria impressively ranked sixth in the country for the number of total first and second doses given out, at 387,169, up from 284,913 on January 31.

People in the fifth cohort, aged 65-69 began to receive invitations from the National Booking Service from this last weekend, and the Post understands that GPs are now being asked to start inviting people with defining underlying health conditions and unpaid carers for their jab from Monday.

In their first weeks, vaccine sites were chosen based on their ability to handle the vaccine, with account taken of the number of people aged 80 or over in their area, while ensuring a geographical spread.

A full list of the vaccination sites introduced in Lancashire is available here.

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